


The Art of Illumination

by ChecktheHolonet



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blindfolds, Candles, Dirty Talk, Established Relationship, F/M, Hidden fantasies, Kink Exploration, Light Bondage, Modern AU, Praise Kink, Rey will discover Ben's kinks if its the last thing she does, Reylo - Freeform, Soft Ben Solo, Wax Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:34:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26486488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChecktheHolonet/pseuds/ChecktheHolonet
Summary: “Are you sure this is something you want?” he asked. Careful, always careful with her body. Her needs. Her heart. “You can say no--”“--yes,” she breathed, as fast as she could force the word from her tongue, “yes, Ben.”In which Rey and Ben discover that games played in the dark have a spark all their own.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 26
Kudos: 125





	The Art of Illumination

**Author's Note:**

> TW: This fic contains mild wax play, including the stinging sensation/minor pain associated with it. Since this is fiction, Rey and Ben just happened to have skin-safe "supplies" nearby. Please remember that real-life wax play can result in serious injury including burning and scars. Please explore kinks and fantasies responsibly.

“Tell me what you want, Ben. I'll give it to you.”

Sweet, seductive promise. The opening step to a carefully choreographed dance, a gift to the man who would chase down the stars simply because she wished it. Though Rey had tried, asked, coaxed again and again, Ben was reticent about expressing his own base desires in anything more than abstract terms. 

She suspected it had something to do with his innate vulnerability, his persistent fear that suddenly she'd desert him. Leave him for someone stronger. Better. The idea broke her heart a little each day, recognition of a soul so achingly like her own. She wanted to please him, to draw him out of his brittle shell, but he'd resisted, refusing to offer any hint of what he wanted beyond the old male standby, “any sex is good sex.”

“Just tell me, Ben,” she had coaxed. “It's fun...to play with fantasies. Everyone has them. Don't be afraid.”

Heat had wicked to the tips of his ears as he'd shaken his head, averted his eyes.

“I have what I _want,_ ” he'd said, though his voice betrayed a hidden longing, “I don't need anything else.”

Rey wasn't so sure. Late at night, held tight in his bed, he'd often share secrets he hadn't told another soul, dreams and desires too fragile to take form. Still, this particular one remained under lock and key.

“I know you don't need it. But it might be nice to explore. To experiment just a little. Let me make you happy,” she tried again.

“You do, sweetheart,” he promised. He pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead.

Rey huffed. “But...it could be fun to try new things. Every once in awhile.”

He kissed her quiet, distracted her with sweet, careful touches until she forgot everything but her name.

But Rey would not be deterred so easily.

She'd asked his friends, direct words that made Hux spit his coffee across his pristine black desk when she'd marched into his office.

“In what galaxy do you think he and I would EVER discuss sexuality?” Hux said, lips pursed, one eyebrow cocked in disdain. “I can hardly get him to tell me his food preferences let alone his bedroom proclivities.”

Rey glared before storming out of the room. _Food preferences. Ha. He likes sushi,_ she griped under her breath, _everyone knows that._

She'd nosed around in his bedroom, finding nothing but a few generously sized condoms and a random Dostoevsky novel for her troubles. _Crime and Punishment_ , she muttered, _figures_.

It was only two weeks later that a touch of divine intervention had pointed her in the right direction.

A vicious storm had swept in from the south, rattling his thin apartment walls with rolling claps of thunder and the howl of relentless wind. When the lights had flickered and died with lightning’s deafening impact, Rey had nearly launched herself out of bed. Ben barely moved.

“Go back to sleep,” he'd slurred, tightening his arms around her waist and dragging her close to his solid chest. He was out again before she could comply.

Ever practical, Rey reached for the candle that sat on his nightstand, igniting the wick with a practiced strike of the match. She stared at the flickering flame until drowsiness took hold and her eyes drifted shut. When she felt the bed shift, Ben was leaning over her, fingers scrabbling for the still-lit candle.

“It’s dangerous, sweetheart,” he chided, “shouldn't leave a candle burning while you sleep.”

“I'll get it,” she offered.

They both reached over as he blew the flame out, hands colliding as he lost his balance. The candle tipped in darkness, sending wax cascading in a hundred directions. A few errant drops splashed onto Rey’s bare wrist. Flinching, she sucked in a breath, then huffed out a nervous laugh as the wax quickly hardened and cooled. Warmth’s echo resonated over her sensitized skin as her nerve endings sang.

 _Whoa_.

“Um. Wow,” she laughed, light and nervous, “that was kind of...sexy.”

Behind her, Ben went absolutely still.

 _Oh_.

Rey could hear his breath, shallow and fast over the rain’s slowing rhythm. When she turned to face him, he curved a thick arm across her shoulder, anchoring her in place. His lips rested against the shell of her ear, his nose nuzzling the tender skin. His breath tickled her neck.

“Ben?”

At last, he spoke. “Did you mean that?”

Something like excitement danced through his voice, deep and heavy and clawing toward escape. He took her fleshy earlobe in his teeth and bit down, just this side of painful.

Rey shuddered. Bit back a moan. Nodded.

He pressed a kiss to her throat. Her jaw. The nape of her neck. His hands began to wander, skirting the edge of her nightshirt before drifting lower, his palm pressing flat against her belly. He shifted closer, his body dwarfing hers as he drew her back against his chest. His cock, hard and ready, nudged at her hip.

In the darkness, Rey smiled.

Ben reached for the candle, cradled it in his warm palm, and drew it across her arm. The sleek glass housing soothed her skin.

“Are you sure this is something you want?” he asked. Careful, always careful with her body. Her needs. Her heart. “You can say no--”

“--yes,” she breathed, as fast as she could force the word from her tongue, “yes, Ben.”

He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, suppressing a shiver as he drew a slow, deep breath through his nose. “Okay,” he whispered, eyes wide, pupils almost eclipsing the narrow ring of color, “you know I'll give you whatever you want.”

He got out of bed, fumbling in the half-dark toward his dresser drawer. Glancing over his shoulder, he smiled, profile illuminated through the slats of the blinds. Lightning flickered. Thunder answered the call. “Lay down,” he urged, and then, a beat later, in a voice so soft it was hardly heard, “be good for me.”

Rey would later swear she felt those words in the very tips of her toes, heated static charge firing down her spine and deep into her belly, coalescing in a tightly wound ball of _want_.

"It's gonna sting, sweetheart," Ben whispered as he approached, shadow and light playing in tandem across acres of pale skin. His voice skittered across her nerves, wispy like smoke, steady like a bass drum’s pulse, low and hypnotic. "It's gonna hurt, just a bit. Can you handle it? Can you take it, for me?"

Leaning one powerful leg on the bed, he drew a wide length of fabric over Rey’s parted lips. Cool. Soft. _Silk_. One of his ties, custom made by First Order. Expensive, an expression of his discerning taste.

“Can I?...” Ben swallowed. Fidgeted. Played with the fabric balled in his fists. Hesitation threatening to destroy the glass castle Rey spent months trying to breach. _No_.

“Do it,” she ordered, though her voice remained mild, an enticement rather than a command. And then, sinfully soft, inviting: “let me be good for you, Ben.”

His eyes almost glowed in the dark.

Reaching for her, he arranged her on the bed just-so, legs spread wide and arms drawn up, knots tested for strength and then for comfort. Tested again. At last he was satisfied, appraising her with eager eyes before taking her mouth in a single searing kiss.

“Good girl,” he whispered, brushing his thumb across her lip. She bit down on the pad of his thumb and he moaned, his hips rocking forward to press against her thigh, helpless little pulses that did little to relieve the growing ache. Avidly, he watched her with clouded eyes, soaking up the way she moved, the blush that stained her cheeks. “Rey,” he murmured, affection like a physical caress.

On the bed, Rey shifted, concentrating on the feel of the fabric on her wrists, the weight of his stare, the energy that seemed to pulse between them, delicious and new. Always, always, she was the center of his world, but in this, their private playground, the universe condensed to a single pair of souls, hearts beating wildly in time.

“Want you,” he sighed. A kiss to her arm’s slender curve, lips plush and wet. “So gorgeous like this,” he murmured, thick fingers freeing the buttons on her nightshirt one by one by one. Cool air slipped in where the fabric parted, teasing her skin and tightening the tender tips of her breasts.

He leaned down, releasing the clasp on her bra with a practiced flick. “Eyes here,” he ordered, drawing her gaze before bending over her chest and pressing a delicate kiss to each beaded nipple, mouth pulling away far too soon. When she cried out, Rey could feel his grin. Dark. Triumphant.

Ben drew himself up, sitting back on his haunches. On his thighs, his fingers curled into fists. He forced them to relax before palming his cock through his underwear, a broken groan rattling his chest. Rey licked her lips. “That’s it, Ben,” she purred. “Show me what you like.”

His eyes met hers as he cocked his head. Squeezed his fingers. Exhaled, sharp and hot. Slowly, he pulled his hand away. A tiny smirk bowed his lips.

“We’ll see.”

With eager hands, he reached for the candle and ignited the wick. Placed it back on the nightstand. Traced teasing fingers over the lines of her ribs as little by little the wax melted, time unspooling slowly as he answered his body’s call to worship her. Finally, he drew back, licked his lips, and locked eyes with Rey.

“Ready?”

The candle tipped, dripping sticky-hot wax onto her glistening skin as her exultant cry of _yes_ pierced the room.

Rey panted, wetness seeping from between her spread legs as Ben dripped the wax across her skin, a kaleidoscope of sensation swirling into a pleasured nexus. Stimulation’s backdraft stole the very air from her lungs.

Ben stared, intense gaze like a physical caress, absorbing every pulse of motion she made. Dark eyes hooded, shrouded with lust, he watched as she squirmed, a fine sheen of sweat breaking out over her brow, her forehead. He licked his lips once, tracing his thumb over the crest of her cheek. Rey sighed; exhaled on a trembling moan. When she leaned into his touch, he coaxed her softly,

“That’s right…breathe…come on, you can do it…fuck, sweetheart…you’re so gorgeous like this.”

Languidly he tipped the candle once more, drawing spider-veins of molten heat along pink-gold flesh. His hand curled around her breast, simple mark of possession, biting back a moan as he watched her writhe. She arched beneath his touch, pushing upward against his hand’s welcome weight, drawing shaky gasps of air through parted lips. Ben bent to close his lips around her nipple, pure sweet suction that made her drip like melted wax.

“Beautiful,” he soothed, “so good for me.” Rey keened, fighting to keep her arms at her sides as her abdomen was coated waxy-white. A dark, sultry smile bloomed across his lips as he carefully slid his fingernail under the edge of one cooling puddle, pulling it away with utmost care, teasing the soft skin he discovered, dropping warm-wet kisses indiscriminately.

“Ohhhh…” Filmy whisper, words smoky with lust, “Look at you…all red…sore…it hurts a little, doesn’t it? Don’t worry…gonna make you feel so good, sweetheart…just you wait…”

He leaned forward, drawing barely-there circles along sensitized flesh with the very tip of his tongue, sweat’s metallic salt making him dizzy as he traced over the wax, prodding under it.

“A little more, sweetheart, just a little more…wanna see you move those hips…come on…”

A light tap of his palm against her wide-splayed thighs encouraged movement as she helplessly obeyed the command, pelvis snapping in broken rhythm, ass taut as she sought friction. She had only enough time to drag in a gulp of air before the candle tipped and her world spun sideways, starbursts of sensation along the rise of her hip, the crease of her thigh…lower…lower…

Ben blew the candle out.

His mouth landed solidly against her skin a moment later, tongue dragging slowly up her slit as her back arched and a high, keening noise escaped her mouth. He placed the candle back on the nightstand and stretched out between her thighs, broad back showcasing miles of creamy, muscled skin. Rey moaned, pressing her hips towards his mouth.

“That’s right,” he breathed against her core. “Just like that…”

“Please, Ben,” she begged, “please.”

He kissed her clit, pressed a finger inside, held it steady. Rey tensed her thighs, Tossed her head. Keened.

A smile, wide and feral, bloomed across his face. “Be good for me, sweetheart,” Ben warned. He thrust a finger inside, slow and rhythmic, shallow and light and not nearly enough.

Sweet, exquisite agony.

“I will!” Rey cried, “I'll be so good! Please...”

Ben withdrew, pressed a final, tender kiss to her clit, and stood. With shaking hands he removed the rest of his clothes, his hard cock standing thick and proud, weeping with desire. He hovered over her, fingers working quickly at the ties on Rey’s wrists.

“No, Ben, You don't have to--”

“--touch me, sweetheart,” he begged, pressing his body as close as he dared, nudging his head under her chin and filling his palms with her breasts. “Please touch me.” She barely recognized his voice. In a heartbeat she realized how far gone he really was, how hard it had been to rein himself in, to exercise control, to slow it down and draw it out and make it good for her and…

 _Oh, Ben_.

“Come here, love,” she breathed. A shudder rolled across his skin, echoing in his voice like thunder’s call. He moaned, grinding against her hip, as she traced her fingers through his hair. “Come inside me.”

With a swift, strong thrust, he obeyed, burying himself to the hilt with one practiced motion, groaning as she gripped him tight.

“Fuck.” he gasped. “Oh, _fuck_.” He set up a powerful rhythm, thick cock sliding deliciously against her soaked, swollen walls as he littered kisses across her neck. Her chest. Her face. Frantically, he worked his hips; deep, full thrusts she could feel in her bones, her pleasure building like an oncoming storm, violent and beautiful.

“M’gonna...shit...gonna come,” Ben groaned. His fingers shot down to her clit, rubbing in hard, precise circles, stimulation right on the knife’s edge of pleasured pain. He pressed his tongue into her mouth, kiss wild and frantic. _Just a little more_. She bit back a scream as she spasmed. Clenched. _Came_.

Above her, Ben gasped, fingers gripping her hips with bruising force as he spilled within her, hips jerking erratically as he pulsed and moaned.

“Rey,” he cried, “ _fuck_ , Rey.”

He collapsed on her chest, face cradled between her breasts as he panted, ragged and loud, feverish skin drenched with sweat as he shivered with aftershocks.

In silence, they breathed, their bodies slowly drifting back to center, the storm finally ceased. Calmed.

With trembling hands, Rey traced Ben’s spine. Drew fingers through his hair. Whispered his name, soft and sweet.

Ben picked up his head, eyes wide with wonder. Overwhelmed. Bravado long gone, leaving the sweet man she loved in his wake.

Rey scratched his scalp with gentle nails, affection flowing freely as she regarded his awestruck face. He stared at her, unblinking, such naked affection in his eyes. Ben. Her Ben. Complex and devoted, generous to a fault. Scorned and scarred and broken and mended. Sometimes, he just needed a little push to take what he really wanted.

Rey was happy to provide that service, to coax it like a candle’s burning flame.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on Twitter (if you’re over 18 only—no minors, please): @ChecktheH


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